Effect of potassium application rate and timing on alfalfa yield and potassium concentration and removal in Tennessee

Received: December 1st, 2022 ; Accepted: March 15th, 2023 ; Published: April 13th, 2023 ; Correspondence: [email protected] (Medicago sativa L.) is the most important forage crop in the world and potassium plays a significant role in achieving high yields. A field experiment was conducted during the 2012–2014 growing seasons at the University of Tennessee in Springfield. The experimental design was a split-split plot that included four levels of potassium (K) application rates (0, 67.25, 134.50, and 269.00 kg K2O ha-1 ) as the main plots and two K application times (green-up and split) as the subplots, and harvest dates as sub-subplots. The results demonstrated that the dry matter yield (DM) increased significantly with each increment in K application rate up to 134.50 kg K2O ha-1 ; however, the highest K fertilizer application (269 kg K2O ha-1 ) did not result in a significant yield increase relative to 134.50 kg K2O ha-1 , because some luxury consumption of K occurred at the highest rate due to yield leveling off while K2O uptake continued to rise. Potassium concentration and K removal increased with K fertilizer at rates beyond those that maximized yield, indicating luxury consumption of K. The greatest K concentration and removal were recorded at 269 kg K2O ha-1 in all harvest months. The split application was more beneficial than applying full K at the time of green-up due to higher dry matter, K concentration, and K removal in alfalfa. In conclusion, 134.50 kg K2O ha-1 is adequate for maximizing alfalfa yield; split application of K is sometimes superior to the single dose of K fertilizer in alfalfa production

Confusion at the beginning of sexual intercourse, the challenge of patients after coronary artery bypass graft surgery in Iran: A qualitative study.

BackgroundMany patients suffer from sexual dysfunction after coronary artery bypass graft surgery, but they refuse to propose and follow up on the problem due to the cultural structures prevailing in Iranian society. Untreated sexual dysfunction will disturb the quality of life of these patients. This study was performed to explain the experiences of male patients from sexual problems after coronary artery bypass graft surgery.Materials and methodsThis qualitative study was performed with the approach of conventional content analysis in Tehran in 2020. The data were collected through semi-structured interviews with 12 men after coronary artery bypass graft surgery at the hospital's cardiac surgery clinic, as well as the surgeon's clinic. Participants were selected by the targeted sampling method. After obtaining informed consent, the collected data were written word by word, and the content analysis approach was used to name the data, create analytical codes, and determine subcategories and categories. The data were analyzed by MAXQDA 10 software.ResultsThe findings of this study show that the dimensions of confusion in patients' sexual intercourse after coronary artery bypass graft surgery in four subcategories of challenges of the first intercourse after surgery, ambiguity in how to obtain information, the ambiguity of sexual issues after surgery, and spouse are concerned about having sexual intercourse.ConclusionThe results of this study show that male patients who have undergone coronary artery bypass graft surgery have many ambiguities in the process of sexual intercourse, which passes the beginning of sexual intercourse with fear and avoidance of intercourse. Postoperative patients do not propose these problems with the medical staff when they suffer from sexual dysfunction or ambiguity due to the taboo of talking about sexual intercourse. Eventually, the patient and his or her partner become confused about sexual intercourse after surgery. Therefore, it is recommended that policymakers in the field of health create the culture and planning for solving the ambiguities created in the path of sexual intercourse of these patients

Sexual dysfunction status in iranian cardiovascular patients: A systematic review

Context: Sexual dysfunction is one of the challenges faced by heart patients. In Iran, because of the cultural structure, addressing sexual issues and problems is difficult in these patients and the follow-up of heart problems causes these patients’ sexual relations to be marginalized. Considering the fact that there is no general conclusion about the prevalence and types of sexual dysfunction in these patients in the Iranian society, in order to gain comprehensive knowledge about this phenomenon, this study was conducted as a systematic review to investigate the sexual dysfunction status in Iranian heart patients. Evidence Acquisition: In this systematic review, articles published in Persian and English were retrieved from Web of Science, PubMed, Scopus, Medlib, Magiran, SID, Iranmedex, and Google Scholar databases using keywords without time limits. Then, the articles meeting the inclusion criteria were studied and analyzed. Out of the 1011 articles retrieved, 12 were reviewed and analyzed. To extract the data, two experienced researchers reviewed and analyzed the articles simultaneously, and the co-working professors of the research team evaluated the quality of the articles separately to increase the validity and reliability of the study. Results: All reviewed articles were quantitative studies. The results of extracting the findings indicated male sexual dysfunction, including erectile dysfunction, orgasmic function, sexual desire, sexual satisfaction, and marital satisfaction. In female patients, sexual satisfaction and marital satisfaction were impaired. Conclusions: According to the results, heart diseases caused sexual dysfunction in heart patients. Patients with heart diseases had significant problems, such as lack of sexual desire, sexual dissatisfaction, and decreased frequency of sexual activity. Considering the severity of this disorder in the Iranian society, the treatment team is recommended to pay serious attention to sexual relations in these patients and consider the improvement of their sexual function as an integral part of the cardiac rehabilitation function

Effect of Seed Inoculation with Pseudomonas fluorescence and Glomus esculentum on Quantitative and Qualitative Yield ofTwo Forage Corn Cultivars

In order to investigate the effect of Pseudomonas fluorescence strain 93 bacteria and Glomus esculentum fungus on quantitative and qualitative yield of two forage corn cultivars, an RCBD based factorial field experiment with three replications was conducted at the Agricultural Research Station of the University of Guilan in 2008. Treatments were considered as phosphorus chemical fertilizer, seed inoculation with Glomus esculentum mycorrhiza fungus, seed inoculation with Pseudomonas fluorescence strain 93 bacteria, seed inoculation with Pseudomonas fluorescence strain 93 bacteria and Glomus esculentum mycorrhiza fungus, and two corn cultivars (SC704 and SC647). No application of chemical fertilizer and microorganisms was considered as control. Results of ANOVA showed that plant height and leaf area, plant SPAD value, and plant biological yield were affected by cultivar × fertilizer interaction, significantly. The highest plant height (249.30 cm), SPAD value (52.30), and biological yield (251.51 g/plant) were related to cultivar SC704 which treated with chemical phosphorous fertilizer or inoculated with bacteria-fungus combination. The maximum plant leaf area was achieved in chemical phosphorous fertilizer followed by application of both bacteria and fungus treatments. Inoculation with both bacteria and fungus also resulted to highest dry matter digestibility (77.37 %) and crude protein (12.61 %). However, the highest (54.41 %) and lowest (34.38 %) crude fiber was related to control and bacteria-fungus combination treatments, respectively. Among two cultivars used in the experiment, SC704 was superior according to examine crop traits. Therefore, it could be expected that inoculating the seeds of SC704 corn cultivar with Pseudomonas fluorescence- Glomus esculentum combination resulted to reduce the use of phosphorus fertilizers and increase in the quality and quantity of forage corn